Gauteng is ready for level 3 lockdown, says physicist Bruce Mellado

A physicist at Wits University, Professor Bruce Mellado, says he is convinced that Gauteng is ready to move to alert level 3 lockdown.

He is an expert in predictions on the effects of COVID-19 and is one of the scientists who participated in the Modelling Symposium that the Health Department hosted in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Various modelling strategies and data were presented to the department as part of a broader engagement in the curbing of the spread of COVID-19.

Mellado says the province has shown an increase in adherence to social distancing.

He says, “In terms of what we showed for Gauteng, the equation for Gauteng looks like the increase of adherence to social distancing is about 20% which is greater than what’s going to happen when we move from level 4 to level 3 which warrants the transition to level 3.”

Gauteng Premier David Makhura has called Ekurhuleni the COVID-19 hotspot in Gauteng with 549 confirmed cases.

He says the metro has overtaken Johannesburg in being the red district, although the majority of confirmed cases are still in the city.

The municipality has registered 549 of 2 400 cases in the province, while Johannesburg has over 1 200 positive cases.

Makhura and the Provincial Command Council briefed the media on Thursday on Gauteng’s readiness to move to alert Level 3 of the lockdown.

He says that Johannesburg has stabilised.

“We are worried that Ekurhuleni has become, just at the level of district, our hotspot. You will remember Johannesburg may have more numbers, but it has stabilized. It has more recoveries. Ekurhuleni in terms of new infections, we are tracking over a period of a week. Ekurhuleni is becoming a big concern for us as a province.”

In the video below, Gauteng Premier David Makhura says while the province has been successful in controlling the spread of the coronavirus, tough times still lie ahead:

INFOGRAPHIC: Level 3 lockdown:

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Additional reporting by Horisani Sithole

This entry was posted on 22 May 2020,07:11AM at 7:11 AM and is filed under Coronavirus, Sci-tech.
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